Allen vs Idaho Series Preview, Scoring and Power Play Struggles, Playoff Teams Almost Set, ECHL Assist Stats and More

 

The Allen Americans begin their six game road trip tonight in Idaho with the only role they have left to play, as spoilers. While Allen can mathematically escape the cellar in the Mountain Division it will take a big turnaround over the final 13 games of the season. Allen trails Utah by 10 points in the standings and will have to sweep the Grizzlies when they play three games next week.

 

- So the Americans are relegated to spoilers in Idaho tonight, Friday and Saturday. The Steelheads are six points behind Wichita in the race for the final playoff spot and have not been playing well. Idaho is 4-5-1-0 in its last 10 games and has lost three straight. You know Idaho sees this three game series at home against Allen as a way to get back in the playoff race. The Steelheads have owned the Americans the last three seasons. Since 2022-23 Allen's record against Idaho is a paltry 3-16-1-0. FYI, the three wins were when goalie Leevi Merilainen was assigned the Allen by Ottawa in 2022-23. In the opening game of the season Allen was outshot 45-19 and Leevi won the game. In the other two wins Merilainen faced 43 shots in each. This season Leevi has played in 12 NHL games for the Ottawa Senators with a record of 8-3-1-0, a GAA of 1.99 and a .925 save percentage.

 

- It will likely take Merilainen type goaltending for Allen to come out on top in this series because the Americans have struggled to score. In its last 11 games Allen has scored two or fewer goals in nine of them. The other two the Americans scored three goals and four goals. 

 

- Here are Allen's goal scorers the last 11 games when the Americans scored only 17 goals, an average of 1.55 goals per game. Defensemen scored 35% of the goals.

• 2 goals - Brassard
• 2 goals - Warmuth
  
• 2 goals - Jacobs
• 2 goals - Isaacson
• 2 goals - Matikka
• 1 goal - Powell
  
• 1 goal - Kane
  
• 1 goal - Wilson
  
• 1 goal - Nault
  
• 1 goal - Westcott
  
• 1 goal - Watts
• 1 goal - Duarte
  

- If you look at season long stats Allen scores a goal per game less than Idaho (2.4 vs 3.4) and also allows more goals than the Steelheads (4.1 vs 3.4). The same is true in shots on goal where Allen takes fewer (29.6 vs 33.8) and allows more (38.1 vs 34.4) than Idaho.

 

- As always special teams will play a big role in this series. Idaho has one of the best power plays in the league ranked #3 at 22.0%. Allen on the other hand, last scored a power play goal eight games ago on February 21. The Americans are 0-28 since their last power play goal. 

 

- Idaho will be playing without its leading scorer as Hank Crone was traded to Norfolk yesterday for future considerations. Hank had 54 points (15G, 39A) in 48 games for a points per game average of 1.13. Crone's plus/minus was +15, second best on the team. Idaho has won eight overtime games this season, Crone had the game winner in three of them. It is hard to understand why you would trade a player with these stats when your team is fighting for its playoff life. Maybe the fact that Crone is already signed in Europe for next season played a role.

 

- Idaho has had trouble scoring lately. The Steelheads have lost three straight and the scores were 7-3, 2-1 and 4-0. A long way from the team that scored over 300 goals last season and averaged 4.2 goals per game. 

 

- It hasn't happened very often when the Americans have played six straight road games without spending any time back in Allen. The Americans have 22 players on the trip which isn't much of a cushion given all of the injuries lately. Mark Duarte is expected to be back in the lineup tonight. Defenseman Kenny Johnson is with the team and has been cleared to play. However, he hasn't played since February 7 and just started practicing. Would expect he won't be in the lineup until the weekend. 

 

- Playing with the lead is always a key to Allen's games since the Americans do not do well playing from behind. Idaho has one of the best records in the ECHL when playing with the lead, almost unbeatable: 

• When scoring first, 19-1-6-1 (.833). 
• Leading after the 1st period, 14-0-2-0 (.938)
• Leading after the 2nd period, 19-0-1-0 (.975) 

Allen has given up the first goal in eight of its last 10 games and lost them all. The Americans cannot play from behind against Idaho and expect to win.

 

- Idaho is great playing with the lead, but is also one of the league's best teams when trailing after the first period. The Steelhead's record is 8-12-4-0. Allen's record when trailing after the first period is 2-25-2-0.

 

- The game tonight will have just one referee with #22 Sam Heidemann working the game. He has been an ECHL referee since 2020 and worked the Kelly Cup finals in 2023 and 2024. He has also been an AHL referee since 2023.

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- It is a light Wednesday night ECHL schedule with only four games. Allen fans might be interested in the only other Mountain Division game, Utah at Kansas City. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/03/echl-today-march-19 

- Competition for playoff spots will be front and center around the ECHL this weekend. 

• North Division -  Worcester (64 points) and Reading (62 points) are competing for the final playoff spot. Trois Riviéres is locked, Wheeling and Norfolk will also advance to the playoffs.
• South Division - South Carolina, Florida and Jacksonville are already locked in. Orlando will the the fourth playoff team.
• Central Division - Toledo is already locked in, Fort Wayne and Iowa will make the playoffs. Four teams are fighting for the fourth playoff spot, but it looks like it will be between Bloomington and Kalamazoo who are currently tied for fourth place with 59 points.
• Mountain Division - No teams are locked in but it is looking like Kansas City, Tahoe, Tulsa and Wichita will be the playoff teams. Idaho is in fifth place, six points behind Wichita and could catch the Thunder. Both teams are under .500 over the last 10 games, so if either gets hot it could make the difference.  

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about players with 60 assists in a season. It looks like no players will reach that milestone this season. I got this stat idea from seeing NHL single season stats yesterday. Putting this together this morning reminded me what Chad Costello accomplished in his three seasons in Allen from 2014-2017. Averaging a point per game is quite the accomplishment. Averaging an assist per game is extremely rare. Chad averaged over an assist per game for three straight seasons. His total was 252 assists in 216 games for an assist per game average of 1.17. In addition to all of the assists he also averaged 33 goals per season over those three years. Just another stat of many why Chad Costello should be in the ECHL Hall of Fame. 

Reaching 60 assists in a season is quite a milestone. Only six players have accomplished that feat in the last 10 ECHL seasons, since 2014-15. One player stands out having reached the 60 assist plateau three times and exceeded 60 by wide margins:

 

60: Jack Dugan, Fort Wayne, 2023-24

64: Zach O’Brien, Newfoundland, 2022-23

60: Alex Ierullo, Greenville, 2022-23

89: Chad Costello, Allen, 2016-17

68: Shane Berschbach, Toledo, 2016-17

64: Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Colorado, 2016-17

79: Chad Costello, Allen, 2015-16

84: Chad Costello, Allen, 2014-15

 

Costello’s assists are the #4 (89), #6 (84) and #13 (79) on the ECHL all time single season assist list. Those ahead of Costello on the all time list played in the 1990’s.